ASCUE 51ST Annual Conference June 2018 Building a Knowledge Management System to Facilitate/Support the Management and Assessment of Return on Intern Investment (ROII) for Project-Based Internships. Dr. Brian Hoyt (hoyt@ohio.edu) Rick Maddox Ohio University

The Problem – a TOC Approach Campus/student profile Opportunities - Curriculum requirements vs. all majors Paid vs. unpaid Positions vs. projects Matching – timing and fit

The Problem – a TOC Approach The Goal – Throughput - Constraint Management The goal - Develop student intern skills in relevant organizational application areas with internships that provide a return on internship investment to the organizational partners Throughput - Map the steps, activities, and tasks in recruiting, matching, and assessing internships Manage biggest constraint of throughput Identify constraint – Student readiness to contribute to project based internships Exploit constraint – Pre-internship workshop using Bb platform Subordinate other steps to the constraint – i.e. not matching until intern and partner completed pre-internship work Elevate the constraint – build KMS to facilitate pre-internship readiness Identify next constraint -

Alternatives Share main campus Career Development office Establish campus Career Development office Establish dynamic project based matching platform

Selection Criteria Project based skill development vs. position based experience development ROII driven / paid internships All majors including majors with required internship, majors with an internship elective, and majors without any program internship opportunity Demand-supply flexible and sustainable to optimize skill development agility Great Lakes Community Investments Career Ready Internship Grant – Creating paid internship opportunities for students with financial need

Implementation Plan - KMS Objective – facilitate the pre-internship readiness of intern and partner Steps – Observe, Capture, Store/Access, Disseminate/Distribute/Engage, and Evaluate Impact

Phases Phase I – Bb platform and project level / Project based internships Observe – develop new skills and knowledge from project work Pre-internship planning for interns and partners ROII targets Capture – The Bb platform Project templates Training modules Project work – deliverables, WIP, Activity Reports, evaluations (mid, skill, sim interview, self), final reports Store/Access Post Roll over (course copy) Build (templates, plans, training modules, ROII models)

Phases Phase I – Bb platform and project level / Project based internships Disseminate/Distribute/Engage Partners: Applications – Scope Plans/templates – Matching Interns: Applications – Pre-internship orientation and training – Matching Phase II and Phase III Evaluate Impact Skills and knowledge development ROII – customer satisfaction, cost reduction/efficiencies, new growth/opportunities

Phases Phase II – Website and campus level Phase III – “Dating App” and community level

Results 100 in Great Lakes “control group” >500 overall in internship data base (project types, “how to” templates, etc.) Diversity of majors represented Diversity of community/organizational partners Diversity of projects/skill development Partner ROII

Next Steps Sustainability – moving to community ownership Phase II and III Research on Best Internship Profile Index

Appendix Scope Plan Great Lakes acknowledgement Project based model

Abstract A Knowledge Management System (KMS) can be used as a dynamic alternative to a permanent career development office. Our internship initiative includes program, campus, and community level development phases. Phase I (Ph1) used Blackboard as a technology platform. Phase II will include the utilization of a campus web site portal for students and faculty across academic programs to develop project based internships using the tools developed in Phase I. Phase III will include an interactive software matching platform that community organizations, faculty, and interns can use to arrange and manage project-based internships. This session will present Blackboard’s usage to support the Phase I KMS internship initiative on an Ohio University campus. Ph1 includes the intern-partner matching, pre-internship preparation of intern and partner, supervision of project activities, and post internship assessment. Project-based internships, driven by project scope planning structure, provides interns with opportunities to develop workplace competencies and provide a return on internship investment (ROII) for community partners. Ph1 was funded by a 3 year $500,000 Career Ready Internships grant from Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation.